Cambodia visit: Hamid Ansari calls for efforts to boost bilateral trade

Addressing a gathering of Cambodian ministers, top officials and students, Ansari underlined India’s enhanced agreement in the East, pointing out that a rapidly developing India and ASEAN can be great partners for each other. “Geographically, Cambodia lies at the heart of ASEAN. For us in India, our relationship with Cambodia is a key element of our engagement with ASEAN,” he said.

Cambodian Deputy PM Sok An urged Ansari to get Bollywood to shoot in Cambodia and reiterated the demand for a direct flight between the countries.

Ansari also spoke about the need to boost bilateral trade, which stood at USD 153.98 million for 2013-2014. “Despite extremely cordial political relations and the diverse areas of cooperation, our bilateral trade and investments remain much below its potential. As part of our initiatives, the government has recently set up a special purpose vehicle to attract Indian investments into Cambodia and other CLMV countries. We hope to launch this new initiative soon,” he said. Ansari will visit Angkor Wat Thursday.